A long, long time ago in a land far, far away, a young boy was born. This young boy grew up wanting to be a knight and go on a quest to fight dragons and rescue a beautiful princess. This young boy was a dreamer. My name is John Walls, and I am that dreamer! Fairy tales have been around for thousands of years. Many of the stories still exist to this day. Some of the first stories we have ever been told were these same fairy tales that have been told to generations before us. How many of you young ladies wanted to be a princess? How many of you young men wanted to go on an adventure and find treasures? Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, we forgot those dreams and stopped believing in these fairy tales we grew up with. I am here today to convince you that although you are older, you do not have to stop believing that fairy tales exist, and you can still experience it in your everyday life!
First we should define what a fairy tale is. Mirriam-Webster defines a fairy tale as a story (as for children) involving fantastic forces and beings (as faeries, wizards, and goblins), b. a story in which improbable events lead to a happy ending. Marcia Lane in her book Picturing a Rose: A Way of Looking at Fairy Tales says about fairy tales:
"My own definition of fairy tale goes something like this: A fairy tale is a story-literary or folk-that has a sense of the numinous, the feeling or sensation of the supernatural or the mysterious. But, and this is crucial, it is a story that happens in the past tense, and a story that is not tied to any specifics. If it happens "at the beginning of the world," then it is a myth. A story that names a specific "real" person is a legend (even if it contains a magical occurrence). A story that happens in the future is a fantasy. Fairy tales are sometimes spiritual, but never religious."
The use of fairy tales to tell a story is thousands of years old. Fairy tales have been told in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Fairy tales have origin with the Ancient Druids of the British Isles and the days of the great Chinese Dynasties. Fairy tales were passed on by word of mouth long before they were written down. The best thing about these fairy tales is we still hear these same stories today.
There are many themes that are prominent throughout the realm of fairy tales. The three big ones are love, magic and a quest. Love is the most common. It is seen in fairy tales from Cinderella through Little Red Riding Hood. Every woman of all ages dreams of a romance that is unconditional and sweeps them off their feet. For guys, though we never vocalize it, I believe it is the same thing. I for one, search for love that is pure. I want to be that knight in shining armor that sweeps a girl off her feet and can provide and receive that love through a lifetime. Many of us have seen that kind of love before. How many of you know a couple that has been married for 40 or 50 years? At my job recently we hosted a wedding for a young couple. They met when they were 7 years old. One day the bride was at his house. She was 10 at the time. She saw the groom’s father and said to him, “I am going to marry your son some day.” They started dating in 8th grade. They dated all through high school, college and grad school. On March 6th, her dream came true. They were married. Their fairy tale came true. This can be argued as true love. It is love that turns the beast back to a human. It is love that breaks the spell of death and eternal slumber. It is love that turns a wooden puppet into a boy.
The second prominent theme is magic. In many of the stories there is a fairy godmother or some other fairy that that uses magic to help the heroine or hero of the tale. The fairy godmother turns Cinderella into a princess so she can attend the ball. But fairies aren’t the only forms of magic. In Jack and the beanstalk magic beans grow into a stalk and take Jack to a castle in the clouds. In 1001 Arabian Nights a genie helps Aladdin in his quests. By clicking her ruby slippers together three times, Dorothy is transported home. Magic is not always benevolent in fairy tales. The spindle is cursed so that if Sleeping Beauty touches it she dies. A poisoned apple is presented to Snow White. The dark side of the Force, seduces the chosen one into killing all of the Jedi. I would argue that magic exists in our everyday life. Take for example the miracle of life. Creation of another human being, though it can be explained by science, is truly a magical event. The re-birth of a forest after a destructive fire, a rainbow after a storm, are all magical. We grow up believing that magic is in the form of spells cast by wizards and witches. Why can’t magic be something extraordinary that we can not explain? Think about the birth of religion. The ancient Greeks, Native Americans, and Egyptians to name a few, had a god that controlled everything. That was how they explained why the tides changed, why flowers bloomed in the spring, and what happened when you died. They couldn’t understand what was happening in nature, they accepted it as divine intervention. It wasn’t until advances in science that we have come to accept the things we do. Why does everything have to have a reason or scientific proof?
The third theme is a quest. Heroes are often sent on a quest, whether it is to save a damsel in distress, fight a dragon, or destroy evil. The heroes’s quest is often a journey to learn their own strengths and weaknesses. It involves a struggle to overcome adversity. King Arthur went on his quest for the Holy Grail. Frodo went on a quest to destroy the Ring of Power. Peter went to hunt the wolf that terrorized his village. We all go on our own quests. Some of us go to college, some join the military, some even hike cross-country. In all of this, it is important that we stay true to the ideal of the quest and that is finding our own strengths and weaknesses.
You may be asking yourself, “When is he going to get to the creatures in fairy tales, like dragons, dwarves and others?” The answer is now. Dragons may not be seen in their thick, scaly skin in winged flight breathing fire. In the story of fairy tales dragons represent an obstacle that gets in the way of a hero. In our lives we encounter many things and people that try to disrupt and derail us from accomplishing our goals. In essence we encounter dragon’s everyday and we must choose to stand and fight them or runaway from them. Dwarves are another creature we see. Dwarves are small humanoid creatures. Often consumed with work in caves as miners, dwarves often befriend and help the heroes. How many of you found help in an unexpected place? Has someone tutored you, coached you, or even befriended you in a difficult time? They are the dwarves of fairy tales.
I would be remiss of my duty if I didn’t tell you that not all fairy tales have happy endings. Many of us know the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Many of us however have never heard the real ending. In the original story Little Red Riding Hood is eaten by the wolf. It is only in later adaptations that the woodsman cuts her from the wolf’s belly. Though sad, one thing is certain, there was enough people who believed that fairy tales should have a happy ending, and did something about it. That gives me hope. The second thing I should tell you is that all fairy tales exist with some sort of condition. Cinderella could have everything she wanted as long as she left the ball by midnight. Sleeping Beauty needed to stay away from a spinning wheel to have a long life. Ariel could be with the prince as long as she made him fall in love with her within three days without use of her voice. In all of our fairy tales, be aware of our own limitations.
I came here to tell you why you should believe in fairy tales. We went through some of the main themes, we touched on magical creatures. We have seen similarities in our own lives. I want to conclude with this. I don’t know if true love or love at first sight exists, but I would hate to live in a world where it wasn’t possible!
Love me, hate me, everyone is entitled to my opinion!
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